Heredity 55 



have learned wisdom by experiences. Their habits are 

 seen to be estabhshed before they have come near to an 

 enemy. It is clearly a qualification received before birth, 

 something given by the parents along with the physical 

 body, in short an inherited instinct ; a transmitted knowledge 

 acquired by generations of ancestors and not originated 

 anew by these young but only maintained by their own 

 circumstances. It becomes necessary for this study, that 

 the general law of heredity be considered, and reviewed in 

 a general way. It must be explained, without an extended 

 recital of authority, that a form or habit or ability can be 

 thus passed down from parent to offspring in well developed 

 form. Omitting here the proofs, which are fully given in 

 works accessible to any reader, it is desirable to present a 

 clear conception of this important fact of nature, because it 

 is a fundamental element of the law of conduct. Therefore 

 a few familiar examples may be noted. 



Observe the activities of a brood of chickens newly 

 hatched. These little creatures have none of that helpless 

 infancy, during which some other birds and young animals 

 have to learn how to eat, how to walk, and even how to see. 

 The blind kitten and puppy need to learn these things under 

 the parents' tuition, but the chicken we see step from the 

 shell with open eyes, and in a few minutes acquire the 

 ability to balance itself upon a single foot, and to distinguish 

 and pick up food. These abilities may need a stimulus, as 

 of the food, to prompt the function, but the powers are 

 there well formed and transmitted by ancestors, some of 

 whom, in the earlier remote past, first learned how to do 

 these things. The more slowly developing dog, when he 



